Linden bar must pay $950K to women struck by club patron in hit-and-run crash

LINDEN -- Two women injured in a hit-and-run accident will receive a nearly $1 million settlement after they sued the bar that had served the driver who struck them.

About 4 a.m. on March 11, 2007, Ivonne Sanchez and Lisette Acavedo, both from Fort Lee, were hit by a car as they left a club on Linden's South Wood Avenue.

The man who struck them, Timothy A. Cavigliano, now 33, served one year in jail after pleading guilty to two counts of criminal assault by auto, according to Sanchez's attorney, Ron Dario.

Both women were critically injured in the accident, according to reports in The Star-Ledger at the time.

Dario said he sued the bar Cavigliano was at before the accident, D’s Dugout on West St. Georges Avenue, because a bartender allegedly served him after he was drunk.

"We were able to, through a dozen depositions, put together how many drinks the guy had," Dario said. "It was seven, and he was 140 pounds at the time. We had an expert who said he was three times the legal limit."

Cavigliano was never charged criminally with driving drunk.

The lawyer for D’s Dugout, Pat Dacey, said that the civil case was settled last week without an admission of guilt that the bar served Cavigliano when he was intoxicated.

"The injuries were rather severe to two people, so it was really an economic decision made to settle the case as opposed to risk this case in front of a jury," Dacey said.

The bar’s insurance company paid the two victims $950,000. Geico, Cavigliano’s auto insurer, paid out $50,000, the maximum his policy allowed, according to Dario.

Acavedo could not be reached for comment.

Even with the money from the settlement, Sanchez’s life is still difficult. She had to move to La Miranda, Calif. to live with her parents.

Sanchez is in rehabilitation for lingering injuries like paralysis on her right side and damage to her vocal cords that impedes her speech, according to her mother, Delia Sanchez.

"There's still a long road to go," Delia Sanchez said Thursday. "This (settlement) is just a small reward for what she's going through."

Three years after her accident, she still can't walk and spends most time in bed or a wheelchair. But Sanchez and her family aren't discouraged.

"We're very hopeful," Sanchez said. "Just like any parents, we don't give up."

Google MapsA map of the former location of D's Dugout, in Linden. Two women injured in a hit-and-run accident will receive a nearly $1 million settlement after they sued the Linden bar that had served the driver who struck them.